GOP Senators Try to Alter Reagan’s Contra Aid Plan

President Reagan’s aid request for the Nicaraguan rebels hit a potentially serious snag Monday when key members of his own party began seeking major modifications in the $14-million proposal.

At the same time, House Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-Tex.) announced plans to put forth a Democratic alternative to Reagan’s proposal. Sources said the Democratic plan, like the President’s, would call on the Nicaraguan government to enter peace talks in the region, but it would offer no financial aid to the rebels.

Fresh from a holiday recess, congressional leaders said it is too early to judge whether Reagan’s aid request will pass when the House and Senate vote on it later this month.

However, given the initial reaction on both sides of the aisle, the President faces a formidable task as he attempts to win release of the money, which has been withheld since last year. On Monday, he began an intensive two weeks of lobbying for the measure.

A key GOP Senate aide, who declined to be identified by name, predicted that the President will suffer “a pasting” in Congress unless he accepts the advice of some Republican senators who seek to modify his aid request. “I can’t imagine that both the House and Senate will concurrently pass the plan,” the aide said.

Among the Republican senators seeking to change the plan is Intelligence Committee Chairman Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.), who is expected to express his dissatisfaction directly to the President today during a meeting at the White House.

Reagan, faced with continuing opposition to his request for $14 million in military aid for the Nicaraguan rebels, or contras, revised his proposal April 3 in an effort to make it more acceptable to Congress.

Under the revised plan, the contras would receive only humanitarian aid for 60 days, during which Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government would be encouraged to negotiate a peaceful settlement in the region. However, the money could be converted to military aid after 60 days if the Sandinistas refuse to negotiate.

Aides said that Durenberger, who has likened the President’s proposal to “an apple with a razor blade in it,” objects that Reagan could convert the money to military aid after 60 days without further consultation with Congress.

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, indicated that he has heard similar complaints from other Republicans seeking modifications in Reagan’s aid request. As for himself, Lugar said he is “not going to nit-pick the plan, point by point.”

Senate sources indicated that Durenberger and other Republican critics of the President’s plan are seeking to earmark the money for humanitarian aid instead of military aid--or to require a second vote by Congress to release the money for military purposes if the Sandinistas refuse to negotiate a settlement to the conflict within 60 or 90 days.

There is no indication yet from the President that he would accept either of these alternatives. However, a State Department official who declined to be identified said the Administration ultimately might be satisfied with humanitarian aid if military aid cannot be obtained from Congress.

“If all we can get is humanitarian aid, we’ll take humanitarian aid,” he said. “The important thing is not so much the specific $14 million but the political effect in the region--demonstrating our commitment to the democratic opposition--and the psychological effect on both the freedom fighters and the Sandinistas. . . . Humanitarian aid would lessen that effect, but it would have some effect.”

In the House, a variety of alternatives are being discussed by the Democrats, but a Democratic aide said the idea of a partisan alternative could be abandoned if party leaders determine that Reagan’s aid request lacks enough support to pass the House.

“If you have the votes to vote it down, you don’t need an alternative, and we may just have the votes,” the aide said. “If you don’t have the votes, you do need one.”

Wright said preliminary head counts show no major shift since the House voted last year, by a margin of about 60, to withhold the military aid. “If there has been a change, we have not been able to detect it,” he said.

Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Central America, is leading Democratic efforts to develop a partisan alternative. Although Barnes refused to discuss what such a proposal might contain, it was learned that he favors calling the Sandinistas to the bargaining table but providing no financial aid to the contras.

Rep. Jim Jones (D-Okla.) has been working on an alternative that would provide military aid for the contras, but only if the Sandinistas refuse to negotiate and Congress votes its approval after a 60- or 90-day waiting period.

Senate Democrats were skeptical of Barnes’ effort to develop an alternative. “I don’t see any of the alternatives getting together quickly enough to preempt the Administration’s request,” one Senate Democratic aide said.

Meanwhile, Senate Democratic leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia sent a letter to the President expressing concern that the aid resolution is vaguely worded and could be interpreted as authorizing money for sending U.S. troops to Nicaragua. He asked Reagan to assure Congress that he does not intend to commit U.S. troops.